The Real Reason Squid Game Season 2 Is Only 7 Episodes Long
The games are about to begin again! Hwang Dong-hyuk's "Squid Game," the streaming television phenomenon that captivated viewers all over the world in 2021 (and spawned a terrible reality competition series called "Squid Game: The Challenge"), is set to unwrap its second season the day after Christmas, with a third and final season en route sometime next year. The survival horror series about financially struggling people who play a series of children's games that, if lost, will result in their death remains grimly compelling to viewers who, given the state of the global economy, are likely to be facing their own money problems.
As to whether the considerably violent, decidedly controversial show is thematically sharp, wantonly cruel or simply good, exploitative fun, that's up to you. What's not for debate is that the first season ended with Netflix subscribers wanting more of the bloody same, and we've a feeling they're going to get it with seriously bloody interest.
While we wait for the premiere of "Squid Game" season 2, some viewers are wondering why this latest batch of episodes is two shy of the first season's nine. Are the episodes going to be longer, or does he just have a tighter story to tell this time out? Hwang has an answer to this question!
Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote Squid Games seasons 2 and 3 at the same time
In an interview with Deadline, Hwang revealed that the next two seasons flowed from the same burst of inspiration. How did that work? Per Hwang:
"I wrote seasons 2 and 3 at the same time, and we were in production for both simultaneously, and currently we are in the post-production process for season 3. When I was writing the script for the two seasons, I felt like there was a big turning point or an inflection point, and that was the end of episode 7, so I thought that it would do it justice to have a separate season after that. That's why I had first seven episodes as season 2 and then the rest of season 3."
That entire interview is full of tantalizing little teases, many of which suggest that, shock of shocks, "Squid Game" season 2 will go extra hard in order to deliver, at least on a visceral level, what fans of the series have come to expect in terms of its brutality. Whether or not it will have a more explicit political lean is something we're just going to have to find out for ourselves in a few weeks, although I've no idea how you make a show like this in a remarkably fraught moment for the entire world (especially after the last United States presidential election) and not have a determined point of view.
In any event, if seven episodes feels like too little, at least you know there's more coming. 2025 is shaping up to be the year of "Squid Game." And if you need a refresher on what occurred in "Squid Game" season 1, /Film's got one for you!